Opposition Candidate Returns to Mozambique, Declaring Himself President
Nearly three months after fleeing Mozambique, saying he feared for his life, opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane made a grand return on Thursday to try to claim what he insists is rightfully his: the presidency. Mozambique is scheduled to inaugurate a new president from the long-governing Frelimo party on Wednesday…After several independent election observers identified irregularities in the vote, Mr. Mondlane spent months arguing the race was stolen, calling on his supporters to take to the streets. Some protests have descended into violence, with at least 250 people killed during a police response that human rights groups have called unnecessarily brutal…Filipe Nyusi, the current president, gathered the leaders of the main opposition parties for a meeting on Thursday to discuss solutions — an exercise that some say lacked credibility because Mr. Mondlane was not there…As celebratory crowds swarmed Mr. Mondlane’s motorcade in Maputo on Thursday, witnesses say the police, with little provocation, responded with tear gas and bullets, leaving at least one man dead on the sidewalk with blood gushing from his head. The New York Times
MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan’s Capital
Medical aid agency MSF said on Friday it has been forced to suspend its activities at one of the few remaining hospitals in southern Khartoum due to repeated attacks, cutting off yet another lifeline for those who remain in the Sudanese capital…The hospital, which lies in territory controlled by the RSF, helped treat the victims of frequent airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces, as well as hundreds of malnourished women and children in an area where two neighbourhoods have been judged at risk of famine…The fighting in Sudan has cut off up to 80% of hospitals in conflict areas, where millions who cannot afford to escape the violence remain. Civilians face frequent air and artillery fire and hunger as supplies are blocked by both warring parties and prices skyrocket…Medical facilities, including MSF-supported ones that have suspended operations, have frequently come under attack by RSF soldiers demanding treatment or looting supplies. Bashair Hospital has served more than 25,000 people, MSF said, including 9,000 hurt by blasts, gunshot wounds, and other violence. Reuters
‘If You Are Black, You Are Finished’: The Ethnically Targeted Violence Raging in Sudan
“If you are black, you are finished,” is how [one Sudanese refugee] described her experience of the ethnically targeted violence that has swept through Darfur for the second time this century…The US said on Tuesday it had determined that genocide was being perpetrated by the RSF and its allies and that it was imposing sanctions on the RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – known as Hemedti…The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said in a statement that “both belligerents bear responsibility for the violence and suffering in Sudan and lack the legitimacy to govern a future peaceful Sudan”. However, Blinken said the RSF and its allies were responsible for a pattern of systematic ethnic violence in which civilians were killed as they tried to flee fighting and access to essential supplies was blocked. In 2004, the US had declared that the RSF’s forerunner – the notorious Janjaweed militias – had committed genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s. Then, as now, the violence was directed against darker-skinned, non-Arab groups. Some of the most serious allegations relating to the RSF have once again focused on Darfur, where up to 15,000 people died in well-documented attacks on the city of Geneina in 2023 that targeted the non-Arab Masalit and other ethnic groups. The Guardian
Chad’s Presidency Attacked: Coup Attempt, Boko Haram or ‘Drunk’ Fighters?
Chad’s capital city is still smarting after deadly gun battles erupted on Wednesday night between security forces and more than a dozen armed fighters who brazenly stormed the presidential palace. At least 19 people were killed…The assault comes weeks after controversial parliamentary elections, in which opposition parties boycotted the vote. They accused President Mahamat Idriss Deby’s military-turned-civilian government of trying to legitimise his rule. The attack also followed Chad’s surprising expulsion of hundreds of French troops in December…Conflicting reports about who Wednesday’s assailants might be are floating around on social media, adding to the confusion as government officials attempt to make light of the threat…[G]overnment officials have downplayed the Boko Haram theory. In an interview with Chad’s state broadcaster hours after the attack, spokesman Koulamallah said the attackers [were probably] drunken “Pieds Nickeles” – a reference to a French comic featuring hapless crooks…Several other armed groups threaten Chad’s stability, notably rebel fighters of the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), located near the Libyan border…Late president Deby succumbed to wounds suffered during a battle against the rebels as they pushed towards N’Djamena in 2021. At the time, FACT vowed to strike again after the younger Deby took power…Analysts say Chad is likely to face more attacks like this one. Armed groups might try to take advantage of a security vacuum that could open up as French troops continue with their exit from the country. Al Jazeera
Benin Suffers Heavy Losses in Northern Attack
Benin’s armed forces have suffered heavy losses in an attack on one of their most well-equipped positions in the north, where troops are trying to curb cross-border assaults by Islamist militants, the national guard’s chief of staff said on Thursday. Colonel Faizou Gomina did not share a death toll or details on the location of Wednesday’s attack, but the main opposition party, The Democrats, said around 30 soldiers had been killed in the department of Alibori, which shares a border with insurgency-plagued Niger and Burkina Faso…Benin and coastal neighbour Togo have both suffered attacks in recent years as groups linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda expanded their presence beyond West Africa’s central Sahel region to the north. Reuters
Caribbean States, Benin Mull Troops For ‘Symbolic’ Haiti
Foreign ministers from Caribbean nations and Benin on Wednesday discussed sending troops to Haiti, saying stability in the strife-torn nation was symbolic to “all black people” around the world…The ministers from the west African nation and a grouping called the Caribbean Community (Caricom) met in Benin’s capital, seeking to deepen cooperation. The countries hope to double trade between Africa and the Caribbean to $1.8 billion by 2028 and to bolster investment in industries from agriculture to tourism. The ministers also agreed to promote so-called memorial tourism, allowing nationals from the Caribbean to discover historical sites of Benin linked to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, said a statement issued at the end of the talks. AFP
Libya Expels 600 Nigeriens in ‘Dangerous and Traumatising’ Desert Journey
More than 600 people have been forcibly deported from Libya on a “dangerous and traumatising” journey across the Sahara, in what is thought to be one of the largest expulsions from the north African country to date. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) confirmed 613 people, all Nigerien nationals, arrived in the desert town of Dirkou in Niger last weekend in a convoy of trucks…Jalel Harchaoui, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and a specialist on Libya, said the periodic roundup and expulsion of foreign workers was, “something of a tradition in southern Libya since even during the time of Gadafi”, but that this incident was notable and different because of the large number of people expelled in one go. “There has been no official announcement nor clear policy – this is simply local authorities rounding people up. However, in the rhetoric of the Haftar coalition [the Libyan National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar], which largely controls Sabha [a city in southern Libya where they were deported from], there is often a tendency to demonise foreigners, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa.” The Guardian
‘We Would Turn up to Find Books on Fire’: The Teachers Risking Kidnap and Death to Keep Burkina Faso’s Schools Open
Teaching in Burkina Faso is a dangerous commitment. Thousands of schools are closed and teachers forced out of the profession because of the risks they face, mostly from Islamist militants attacking schools…One teacher, whose identity and location cannot be revealed, tells the Guardian why they continue to teach, despite having experienced the violence first-hand…“I was taken captive while travelling to help with examinations at another school 60km away…The militants held me for days alongside other travellers, only releasing us after demanding we tell everyone in our area to leave and for the school to close down. But I did not abandon my school…The authorities considered closing schools in our area because of the security risk but we have said we will continue, as long as we can be helped to travel to work and our children are given food assistance. We will always care for the future of these poor children – they will build the future of our dear nation. The Guardian
Ivory Coast Leader Signals That He’s Mulling a Fourth Term
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said he would consider seeking a fourth term in office later this year if his party backed his candidacy…Ouattara’s ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace party said last year that it wanted him to be its candidate in October 2025 elections. The party in May said Ouattara was its “natural candidate” in the 2025 presidential elections. Under Ivory Coast law, presidents are only allowed to serve two terms, but Ouattara’s RHDP has argued that a new constitution adopted in 2016 wiped his slate clean — an assertion upheld by the country’s top judicial body in 2020. Bloomberg
Congo Rebels Muddy Minerals Market with Illegal Rwanda Exports, Says UN Report
Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo fraudulently exported at least 150 metric tons of coltan to Rwanda last year, leading to the largest contamination of the Great Lakes Region’s mineral supply chain on record, U.N. experts said in a report. The flows started after the M23 movement, a Tutsi-led organisation purportedly backed by Rwanda, seized the Rubaya area, which produces minerals used in smartphones and computers, following intense fighting in April. M23’s control of transport routes from Rubaya to Rwanda led to Rubaya minerals mixing in with Rwandan production, the U.N. Security Council’s Group of Experts said in the report, published on Wednesday…The report said the rebels established a so-called mining ministry in the occupied territory and ensured a monopoly for the export of coltan to Rwanda from Rubaya, which has one of the world’s largest deposits of the strategic mineral…In this way, the militants collected at least $800,000 per month in taxes on coltan production and trade in Rubaya, it said. Reuters
Congo Bans Al Jazeera over Its Interview with a Key Rebel Leader and Threatens Journalists
Congo on Thursday banned Al Jazeera satellite news network over its interview with the leader of a violent rebel group that has seized territory in the country’s east in recent days. Separately, Congo’s justice minister threatened journalists and others who report on the M23 rebels with the death penalty, though there is no law officially banning media from covering rebel groups…According to Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya, authorities revoked press credentials of Qatar’s broadcaster in Congo, saying the network had interviewed the head of a “terror organization without proper accreditation.” Al Jazeera on Wednesday aired an interview with Bertrand Bisimwa, the head of the M23 rebel movement in the eastern Congo. In the interview, Bisimwa blamed the government in the capital, Kinshasa, for violating an August ceasefire and claimed that M23 is waging an “existential war.”…Congo’s media regulatory body on Tuesday warned three French news organization — Radio France Internationale, France24 and TV5 Monde — over their coverage of the M23 rebels’ advances in eastern Congo. AP
Chinese Foreign Minister Pledges Military Aid For Africa
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday pledged Beijing’s full support and military aid for the world’s poorest continent as he wrapped up his Africa tour in Nigeria. Wang began an Africa tour on January 6, visiting Namibia, the Republic of Congo and Chad before winding up his tour in Nigeria, where he held talks with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar in the capital Abuja…He pledged one billion yuan ($136 million) in military aid to Africa and said China would help train 6,000 troops and 1,000 police officers across the continent…One of China’s key trade partners in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria exports gas and oil to Beijing and imports manufactured products from the country…The geopolitical rivalry that has played out in Africa between former colonial rulers and nations like China, Russia and Turkey, has intensified since a wave of military coups toppled leaders in multiple West African countries in recent years. Many former French colonies have severed ties with Paris and looked increasingly towards Moscow, Beijing, Ankara and Tehran. AFP
African Ministers Meet in Uganda to Shape 10-year Food Security, Sustainability Plan
Africa’s agriculture ministers are meeting in Uganda this week to discuss the best way to transform the continent’s food production systems. The ministers hope to agree on a 10-year action plan to reduce Africa’s reliance on food from outside the continent and adapt its farming practices to climate change and modern technology. The ministers and more than 2,000 delegates are meeting in Kampala to discuss sustainable agriculture and food production systems. Speaking at the opening of the summit, Uganda’s prime minister, Robinah Nabbanja, urged ministers to provide policies and solutions that can make the continent food self-reliant…In recent years, Africa has witnessed a sharp increase in food prices due to droughts, floods, conflict and climate change. According to the U.N. trade and development agency UNCTAD, the number of people experiencing food insecurity worldwide increased from 512 million in 2014 to more than 790 million in 2021. VOA